Category: GSuite

Technology can take us on adventures, far and wide! Where will you go?

I love working with teachers from all over the country, and helping them find meaningful ways to integrate technology into their classroom. So often, I come in for a day or a couple hours and hope something sticks. Occasionally, I’ll receive an email or tweet from someone in a workshop, sometimes months or even a year later, sharing what they tried and how it went.

Back in November, I received this happy email from Norm Peckham, an edtech trainer in Mesa, AZ: “I already had a teacher at one of my junior highs call me and he’s changed his whole lesson plan about migration in science so that his students are creating a [Choose Your Own Adventure] story in the Google Form template you created, and I’m helping him and his students out on Monday!!…” He went on to share some resources and example Forms he created as models for his teachers.

Seriously, how cool is that! It’s the kind of email that puts a smile on my face for days!

Student-created example, CYOA to USC

You’ve probably already figured out that Google Forms is my go-to tool for just about everything in my classroom. However, I haven’t talked much about student-created Forms. These Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) stories are a perfect way to get students comfortable with building Forms, since the template is already done.

Last fall, I had my 8th grade AVID students create Choose Your Own Adventure stories to take us on a tour of a university. This required a lot of background research to create interesting and compelling CYOA campus tours.

Here’s how we did it:

1. Students first researched the university, including history, average freshman profiles, campus features, and interesting facts.

2. Students planned out their journeys using this CYOA Google Doc. This took a little bit of explaining on my part, to help them see how the doc would eventually lead to a branching Form.

3. Finally, students made a copy of the CYOA Form to take us through their adventure.

Excellent description with 2 new options to visit next.

Once students were done, they presented their story and allowed us to choose two different adventure paths. Each student received peer feedback using, you guessed it, another Form!

Looking back, I wish I had an example to share with students before hand (I know, rookie move) so they could see the vision for the final product. Luckily, Norm created this awesome tutorial video and an example story, The Online Adventures of Mousey and Mickey. Huge shout out to Norm for allowing me to share these with y’all!!

How have you used Choose Your Own Adventure activities in your classroom? Share your best tips in the comments!

It’s as simple as this blog post, which I drafted on Google Docs, and inserted images and links. Or the spreadsheet I created to compare and contrast different cars to organize my new car search. Even geekier, I use spreadsheets is to keep track of the books I read each year–this one is massive, complete with charts and formulas.

These digital skills, plus collaboration and communication, are essential for our students to learn to prepare them for the working world beyond our classrooms.

Before you turn up your nose at the word “curriculum,” it’s not strict and boxy. Instead, it provides the skills for students in short video lessons, and allows the teacher to circulate the room and assist students. Additionally, these sample projects can easily be customized to your content class.

My students love Applied Digital skills because it gave them the freedom to create and explore, and work at their own pace. Students who finished their “Organize Information in Google Sheets” early added in additional columns and rows as they researched more universities.

College spreadsheet created by one of my students! They enjoyed coming up with their own research criteria for comparing universities.

Since we are 1:1 iPad, I took my students to the computer lab (you can’t freeze a row/column on the iOS app). Most either watched the videos on their iPad and created on the computer, or split screen their computer monitor to watch and work. I loved watching how each student organized their physical and digital workspace.

Try it out as a student

Join my demo class to see Applied Digital Skills from the learner perspective!

A few weeks ago, I blogged about Saving Sam, one of my favorite teamwork challenges. It’s one of the activities my kids talk about all year! And, it’s how we begin our discussion to build our teamwork foundation for the year.

Saving Sam in 7th grade science

In addition to the labs and activities in our science class, I also use Breakout Edu to have students interact with content and practice their teamwork skills. I have even had my classes create student-created Breakout Edu game.

So, how do we continue these conversations surrounding teamwork throughout the year?

Teamwork observations with Google Forms

I love having students observe their peers and evaluate how effectively they are working as a team. Early in the year, before we work in teams, we create our Teamwork T-Charts. This helps us develop common language around our teamwork conversations.

Then, I take my students’ T-chart responses, and put them into this form (make a copy). We use this form throughout the year for teamwork peer, group, and self evaluations.

Teamwork Evaluation Google Form

Students evaluate themselves and their teamwork in different ways. Sometimes it’s through a fishbowl observation (see below), or I’ll set a timer and everyone must freeze and evaluate. Always, at the end of a lab or teamwork challenge, we reflect.

Fishbowl observations

Talking about and reflecting on teamwork is great, although sometimes it’s hard to recognize the nuances of how we work together. When we really want to dig in and analyze how we work in teams, I use a fishbowl observation. This can easily be done as a whole class, or in multiple smaller groups. And, not only is it great for kids, it is also excellent for adult learners and professional development.

Typically, I use a 1:1 ratio, where half are working on a teamwork challenge, and half are observing. At the end of the challenge, students switch roles, and we begin a second challenge. Shorter challenges work best–I aim for short, 5 minute challenges. There are only so many boxes the observers can check, and after they’ve spent a few minutes observing, they may get distracted.

Always end with a debrief

As with any teamwork activity, it is essential to build in reflection at the end. No matter what, this is the most important part! It can be a quick exit ticket, or a more active walk and talk.

Try using these debrief cards as part of a walk and talk (make enough cards for size of class + 5), partner or group discussions, or as quickwrite prompts.

Teamwork is a growing and evolving process, and it’s essential for us to honor and cultivate this journey with our students!

Around my school, I have a reputation as the techy one. My friends look at me, and know I’m about to say something like, “we need to make a Google Doc!”

Somehow, within this reputation, there is a misconception that I already know everything, and I have nothing left to learn as a teacher. I walk into some colleagues’ classrooms for an informal observation, and they nicely wonder why I’m there and how I could possibly learn something.

Observing other teachers is essential to my own growth!

I am grateful to work on a campus where informal observations and walking into others’ classrooms is welcomed and encouraged. I am always seeking to be a better teacher, and I have so much to learn! Each year, I set goals and growth areas, and constantly reflect on how I’m doing.

Over the last several years, I watched my teacher neighbor effectively use exit tickets at the end of every class period as he dismisses his class. I love how he signaled the end of class, was able to check in with each students, and had a quick formative assessment for each lesson. When I told him I appreciate his use of exit tickets and I was going to start using them in my classroom, he looked at me like I’m crazy for learning something new from him.

Using Exit Tickets

Exit Ticket Slide

With about 5 minutes left in class, I project this Slide and have my students reflect on their learning for the day by filling out the daily exit ticket (make a copy). As my students are silently filling out their exit ticket, I also reflect on how I felt they day went, and what changes I will make for the next class.

Not only is this a way for students to reflect on what they learned, but also it’s instant feedback for me on how the lesson went, including many social-emotional factors, such as “today in class, I felt treated kindly by my teacher.”

Reflecting on the Data

I watch my students’ data come in on the response sheet to see if there are any students I need to check-in with after class. I have had students mark “disagree” to “I felt treated kindly by my teacher,” and it forces me to immediately reflect on our interactions in class that day, and how I handled a situation in class.

Daily Exit Ticket data, using Conditional Formatting to show Agree in green, and Disagree in red.

In the response sheet, I inserted a row below the questions to calculate the percentage of agree with each statement. [Formula: =(countif(I3:I, “Agree”))/counta(I3:I), then Format > Number > Percent]. I also use Conditional Formatting to fill “Agree” cells green and “Disagree” cells red.

Header row and % Agree data from our Daily Exit Ticket.

As you can see, I’m getting my butt kicked for not challenging my class academically–we’re a month into school, and while we have been doing all the science basics, this tells me I need to build in some more engagement and meaningful work.

I am grateful for another way to reach my students, address their questions and curiosities, and receive consistent feedback on how we can make our class better.

How do you use exit tickets in your class? What kinds of questions do you ask?

Back to school is always an exciting time! I love preparing my classroom for my new students, thinking about how to best meet their needs, and anticipating the fun we’re going to have. I loosely plan out what skills I want to hit, but I don’t lesson plan until I actually meet my kids!

In my first year of teaching, I had the (mis)guidance of the teacher I was taking over for. They instructed me to talk about the syllabus on the first day of school, teach lab safety on the second day, then jump right into content on the third day. Even though I planned out fun first-two-weeks activities in my credential/masters program and talked extensively about building relationships, I assumed this strong-willed teacher knew what was best. So, I did what they told me.

Boy, was I wrong. While I did end up getting to know my students eventually, the class cohesiveness wasn’t there from the start and behavior was sometimes a struggle.

The one thing I did do well was a getting to know you survey (on paper). I used that information to learn about my students’ backgrounds, and incorporate their interests into some of our examples from class.

Fast forward to the present: My biggest strength and emphasis as a teacher are building relationships, and making sure each and every student feels welcome in our class. It’s not always easy, and there are plenty of ups, downs, and mistakes–and also many moments of joy!

This is the perfect first assignment on the Google Classroom set-up day. Students join the class, then immediately complete their first assignment.

The questions range from simple, such as birthday and interests, to more thought-provoking, such as “when I get mad, I …” I like having a mix, and seeing how my students choose to answer. For example, when I ask “What is something you are really good at?” not only am I asking for their strengths, but also I am checking for self confidence; when a student writes “nothing,” then I know I will need to intentionally search for areas of strength to share with them.

A hidden teacher agenda item in this activity: I can see who is able to focus on an independent and silent task for 10 minutes, and who needs constant refocusing.

After my students fill out the survey in class, I go through the response spreadsheet and highlight interesting and concerning responses. I make a note to follow up with students, bring up their interests in conversation, and share commonalities.

The getting to know you survey is one of the best parts of my first few weeks of school!

What types of questions do you ask in your getting to know you survey? Please share your favorites in the comments below!

It’s crazy to think I took the Google for Education Level 1 and Level 2 tests in summer 2015. 3 years ago! These tests had just been re-released after a complete overhaul; I intended to take them in late 2014, but they were taken down to get their makeover. Since they expire every 3 years, so retaking them was on my summer to do list.

I ended up taking Level 1 again in February 2017, after hosting an EdTechTeam Level 1 bootcamp at my school. A bunch of my friends were meeting to take the test, so I joined in and took it under my school email. Yes, we took it in the corner at a bar (arranged with the manager ahead of time, especially to make sure wifi was stable.)! And yes, we brought our own power strips. And yes, it was a lot of fun!

Going into the tests this summer, this biggest difference for me was confidence. Since taking Level 1 & and Level 2, I’ve gone on to become a Google for Education Certified Trainer (November 2015) and Innovator (June 2016, #COL16!!). I also facilitate bootcamps for EdTechTeam. Sure, I was a little nervous, because after all, it is a test! However, I also have lots of experience to draw on, which I used to remind myself it would all be ok! This time around it took me about 55 minutes for Level 1, and 75 minutes for Level 2. It took much less time because I knew what to expect and didn’t second-guess myself, not because my skills are that much better.

My advice for taking Level 1 and Level 2

Prepare with other people: I highly recommend the EdTechTeam bootcamps. Either attend one in your area, or fill this out to bring one to your school/district (you can even request me to come to you!). I wish I had this opportunity when I was preparing the first time to get a feel for the test, receive helpful advice, and build my confidence. — And no, I’m not getting paid to say this.

Find a happy place to take the test: I’ve taken the test solo at home in a quiet room and at a loud bar. Both times, I had minimal outside distractions. Yes, the bar was loud, but it was just background noise, not someone talking directly to me. Phone went on “do not disturb” and I closed all the other tabs.

Set up your space: Get something to drink, have a snack handy, use the bathroom before you begin, connect to power, stretch, etc before you sit down to take the test. Your webcam is on the entire time for security, so you don’t want
to have to run to get something in the middle of the test.

Take wiggle breaks: I stand up every 30 minutes or so to wiggle around. I angle my laptop to keep my face in view, because test security. A mini dance party keeps my brain from getting too tired.

Smile!: Remind yourself to smile before, during, and after the test. You’re a hard worker, and these test are kinda fun! No matter what, pass or fail, remember to smile!

If you don’t pass the first time, don’t get discouraged! Make a note of the topics or tools that gave you the most difficulty, find a buddy, and work on them. Challenge yourself to use that tool at least 3 times before retaking the test.

Have tips for Level 1 and Level 2 first-timers? Leave a comment with your best advice!

Google MyMaps is one of my favorite Googley gems! And, it doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. It’s easy to use, can be accessed from any mobile device, and it’s versatile for a variety of academic and fun uses.

Start with a purpose:

What are you hoping to share? What do you want your students to get out of this experience?

My purpose here is to show off how awesome MyMaps are, and how collaborative maps can add authentic student engagement into your classroom.

Before we dive into classroom ideas, let’s play! I invite you to add your name & a favorite place to this map. There’s also a layer to add in your university. Use the description to share a bit about why you love this place. Remember to customize your pin!

MyMaps in the Classroom:

MyMaps pair really nicely with HyperDocs and the 5E lesson model, and can fit in at any point in a lesson sequence.

I’m lucky my friend Austin Houp shared out a collaborative MyMap with me last year, all about natural disasters. It was perfect timing, as my students were working on natural disasters projects in science! My students, along with students from all over the world, added in projects on different natural disasters. They loved clicking through the pins and seeing the information, pictures, and links to external projects created other students! And, knowing they were sharing with the world, they took extra care in their work.

Collaborative natural disasters map, created by Austin Houp

Additionally, my AVID students have plotted their college projects on a MyMap, making it easy to share resources with peers, other classes, and potentially other AVID classes at other schools.

Since my oldest students at my current school are juniors (class of 2019), I’ve made a MyMap to track where they head off to college in a year. It’ll be awesome to keep adding to this map throughout the years. They want to keep in contact with me because my class food rule is “no eating or drinking (other than water) until you have a college degree!” — and, I promise if they come back after they’ve graduated, I’ll buy them lunch and we’ll eat together in my room.

The more advanced tools on MyMaps, such as drawing lines and polygons, is perfect for practicing perimeter and area, calculating distances, or reinforcing measurements.

MyMaps for Fun:

MyMaps is great for personal use, especially planning trips, marking places I’ve been, and sharing favorite spots. I use a MyMap to track which states I’ve been to in the US–I still have a long way to go (16/50 as of May 2018), but it’s fun to change the pin color and switch it to the “Where I’ve Been” layer.

Mari’s States of Adventure map

In summer of 2018, my friend Nick will be visiting San Diego for a few days, and we have a MyMap of San Diego places to visit.

My Next Steps:

Next year, one of my goals is to connect with at least one other classroom to collaborate on a map project! Anyone want to join me? Specifically middle school science or any level of AVID.

What are your favorite ways to use MyMaps for fun and in your classroom? Leave a comment below, I’d love more ideas!

In May 2016 we welcomed Google Expeditions Pioneer program to our school (read about it here), and our students and teachers loved it. I am so excited that we were able to host the Google Expeditions AR Pioneer program at the end of April.

I signed up for the Google Expeditions AR Pioneer program back in June 2017 at ISTE, when I got to play with a demo of the augmented reality (AR) app. Finally I received an email that they would be in San Diego. I quickly reserved my date and got to planning!

Setting Up Google Expeditions AR

As I prepared for our Expeditions AR experience, I was chatting with my friend Ben Kovaks. He shared this awesome See, Think, Wonder (Ve, Piensa, Pregunta) chart with me. It ended up being one of the most transformational parts of the day because it kept students centered and focused on the learning. Most of our teachers ended up using it or creating their own version, and agreed that it was integral to their students’ engagement with the technology. As Ben so wisely puts it, “there NEEDS to be a structure to help kids think through innovative tools.”

We had two rooms for simultaneous Expeditions, my classroom and our school library. I provided support for the teachers coming through my room, and our Expeditions Googler, Calvin, assisted the teachers in the library. We had 18 classes and about 450 students participate in the Expeditions experience over the course of the day.

Teacher training before school

The day began with the training session for our participating teachers. Calvin showed us how to use the devices, went over rules, and allowed for plenty of teacher exploration time. Once the bell rang, we started running Expeditions AR with classes.

Expeditions AR is similar to VR in how it is set-up in the Expeditions App (iOS & Android), and with a Guide and Explorers. One major difference is that it is not necessary to have a student:device ratio of 1:1 or 1:2. Instead, 1:4 was just fine, and everyone was able to participate. Because students had to share devices, they interacted a lot more, described what they were seeing, and talked to their peers, and asked more questions.

Using Google Expeditions AR with our Classes

I got to be with my own students first, and my wonderful sub, Mr. Smith, helped out and explored with us–it’s even cooler because he subbed for me 2 years ago when Expeditions first came to our school! This was my favorite class all day because we had multiple teachers, our principal, and even our campus assistant join in for a while.

Exploring earthquakes around the world.

One of the best parts of our day was when our campus assistant came in to deliver a pass for one of my kids, and I convinced him to come take a look. He rarely gets to be involved in positive things around campus, as he is picking up students, delivering passes, and keeping students safe in the hallways. I watched him interact with my students, and he had the biggest and realest smile on his face! Even better, I heard from multiple people throughout the day that he kept talking about his experience!

Throughout the whole day, everyone was engaged and curious. We are grateful for this opportunity, and we can’t wait for the Google Expeditions AR app to launch!

A while back I blogged about my newfound love for Google Slides. Slides has been such a versatile tool–it is very easy for my students to edit and insert photos/screenshots on their iPads, and simple for me to walk around and see we’re all on the same page (literally).

Getting our heart rate up during the Heart Rate Lab!

I’m slowly transitioning our labs to Slides. I push out everything with Google Classroom, and I love that I can pop in and see students’ progress as they are working (or not working…).

As you read more about the following three examples, I encourage you to not get hung up on the specifics of the content, but instead focus on how Slides can work in your classroom to build skills and assess mastery.

Insert pictures and selfies

Our first lab of the school year is the Paper Airplane Lab, where we review measurement and the engineering design process by building and testing paper airplanes. This lab also helped us teach and reinforce key skills with Slides, such as how to add text in a text box (already created, in this case) and inserting images.

Ms. V photobomb on design selfies!

One of my favorite parts of this lab is Step 4, where students had to insert a selfie with their chosen design. With permission, some used Snapchat on their phone to jazz up their selfies. Others earned themselves a Ms. V photobomb!

Analyze data and create graphs

Another lab we love is the Heart Rate Lab! My favorite part about these Slides is the averages graph. The bars are already created, and students just had to drag the bars up to the right size. We also used this lab to reinforce average. If we were solid on calculating average, I would use this version to teach students how to analyze data in Sheets. There are benefits to both versions, it just depends on what skills we’re working on.

Heart Rate Lab DataHeart Rate Lab Graph

Screenshots of learning evidence

Our Math 7 team has been using Slides for each CPM lesson. One idea I’ve borrowed from them is inserting a screenshot or picture of work at various stages of learning. We use Phet Simulations to teach or reinforce different concepts, such as in the Atom Builder Lab. Students explore the Phet simulation, and insert screenshots of the atoms they create as learning evidence.

Quizizz is quickly becoming one of our favorite class games. My students enjoy the memes between questions and appreciate that they can work at their own speed while still being competitive. They’re always asking, “can I play again?” Of course!

As a teacher, I like that I can make a Quizizz “homework” — I don’t actually assign it for homework, but rather make it asynchronous and push it out through Google Classroom.

One of the best parts about Quizizz is that I can use it during stations work or for early finishers.

I’ve had students create Kahoot and Quizizz games in the past, but I’ve found it a bit cumbersome when they’re working in groups. Inevitably, one person does the majority of the work creating the game, while everyone else sits around doing nothing.

I have a solution for you!

Did you know you can upload a spreadsheet of questions and answers to Quizizz? This makes the process 100x easier for all of us! And, I’m making it 1000x easier for you by creating handy templates.

Creating Crowd-sourced Quizizz Games:It’s fast and simple to have students create their own collaborative Quizizz games. As a teacher, you can either upload their questions or have them do it.

Content ReviewNo matter your stance on testing and grading practices, inevitably your students will have to review content at some time. Have students create their own review questions. (Best tip from student teaching: never do something you can have a kid do for you!) Divide students into groups by topic, and assign individuals or groups to create a 1-2 review questions. Early classwork finishers? Ask them to preview an upcoming topic and create a pre-assessment quiz for the class!

2 Truths and a LieIf you’re looking for a fun getting-to-know you activity? Create a class game of 2 Truths & a Lie with this template. (Change “name” to “question” on the spreadsheet before you download, or you’ll get an error message.) The best part is you can play along with your students, but no peeking at the response sheet too early.

→ Make this content focused by creating 2 truths & a lie questions about famous people, book characters, math operations, or even organelles!

Big thanks to Meagan, Katie, Casey, Joanne, Carlos, Carrie, Aubrey, and Nick for playing along and filling out the original template form! (Want to play this game? Go to join.quizizz.com → game code: 858171 → open until April 12, 2018!)